The Right Ranger (The Men of at Ease Ranch) Read online

  “How…?” She just blinked up at Cord. “I didn’t say—”

  A smile tugged his lips. “Your body told me,” he replied, his words hot along her skin as his lips grazed her jaw.

  “Yeah?” Damn mind reader. Or body reader, apparently. “What is it telling you now?”

  She popped the buttons on his jeans before slipping her fingers inside to free him. Sweet mercy, he was hard and big and pulsing in her hand.

  His jaw clenched. “Fuck.”

  “Right again.”

  He choked out a laugh and she grinned, but her amusement died on her lips when he started to shuck the rest of his clothes. She pushed up onto her elbows and eagerly watched The Cord Show. He wasn’t as tall as Drew, but he sported more ridges, and muscles, and…length.

  Magnificent. She couldn’t get enough air into her lungs to elaborate. “You’re beautiful,” she managed.

  He dug a condom from his pocket, then dropped the jeans to tear open the packet. “The only one beautiful here is you.” Always the great multi-tasker, he rolled on the condom while striding to the bed. When he gently grasped her ankles and spread her legs apart, her breath caught again. He gazed at her. “See? Absolutely gorgeous.”

  Chapter Seven

  Cord knew they’d crossed a big line, but desire had gotten the better of him. Wore him down. All damn weekend, he’d rehashed his conversation with the guys. Drew gave his blessing. Leo’s words echoed through his head, making him wonder if maybe they were right. But it was Haley’s acquiescence—her admittance she wanted him—that finally did him in. He’d wanted her, too. For so fucking long. No way could he resist what she’d offered.

  He crawled up her sexy-as-hell body, addicted to pressing his lips to her skin, loving how soft and supple she felt underneath him. She was so damn beautiful, and still trying to catch her breath. He smiled against her curves. Knowing he could bring her to that state felt incredible, and he wanted to do it over and over again.

  Capturing a delectable nipple between his lips, he pressed it between his tongue and the roof of his mouth. A helpless, needy sound rumbled through her chest, and she ground her hips against him. Heat funneled south in a swift rush, throbbing through his dick. It blew his mind how her hunger matched his own.

  He pulled back and blew on her nipple, watching a shiver wrack her body. She still couldn’t catch her breath. Good.

  Intent on keeping her in that state, he kissed a path up to her mouth and changed the pace, brushing first one side of her full lips, then the other, before settling right on. The soft sweep of her tongue against his sent a jolt straight to his groin. Shy or bold, the woman turned him on big time. He wanted, needed, craved both sides of her.

  Her whole body was trembling underneath him now, and he didn’t remember ever feeling so…lucky. So damn lucky. The urge to elicit more reactions had him releasing her mouth to explore the soft spot behind her ear again.

  She moaned and squirmed and turned her head to offer him more. Three responses. He was on a roll. Never a slacker, he took advantage of the opportunity and kissed a path to the curve of her neck where he sank his teeth into her flesh, then soothed the sting with his tongue, remembering how she’d loved it in the bathroom.

  “Cord,” she breathed, clutching his back.

  He repeated the process while he snuck a hand between their bodies to brush over her folds before he slipped a finger inside. Her moan mingled with his.

  “So wet.” He needed to be insider her. Needed to have her.

  She rocked into him, encouraging him to give her what she needed. “Cord…please…”

  Hell, she didn’t need to beg. He was more than ready.

  Positioning himself at her opening, he groaned. Damn, he’d never felt anything so exquisite. Then she arched, trying to take what she wanted, but he held her firmly in place, his fingers digging into her hips. He needed to slow her down.

  “More,” she demanded.

  “Don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You’ll hurt me only if you don’t move.”

  He chuckled, but it strangled in his throat at the feel of her wrapping her legs around his ass, forcing him to slide into her sweetness.

  “Christ, Haley, you feel so damn good.” Too perfect to keep the feeling inside.

  Apparently she agreed, because she echoed with a long, low moan. “Finally your turn?”

  Didn’t she get it? Didn’t she understand what she did to him?

  “Been my turn all along.”

  Every stroke. Every kiss. Every damn one of her sighs had him so hard and throbbing he was ready to burst. But he needed to take this slow, to savor this gift. Commit it to memory.

  She rocked her hips. Fuck, that felt good, and her low, throaty moan that followed was like a physical stroke to his dick. His need to drive in and out of her trumped his need to take it slow. He began to move, finding the right rhythm that melted his spine.

  “Damn…that’s good,” she murmured, bucking beneath him, driving him bat-shit crazy.

  He leaned down to claim her lips in a hot, wild, demanding kiss, dipping his tongue inside her mouth to mimic their thrusting bodies. So incredible. He pulled nearly all the way out, then drove home, harder, faster—deeper—loving how she clutched at his arms and sighed his name. God, he loved the sound of his name on her lips. It was insane. Addicting. Fucking perfect. Hovering on the edge, he rejoiced in the combination of torment and ecstasy. It was a ride unlike any he’d ever experienced before.

  “Cord…”

  “I know.”

  Reaching under her sweet ass, he spread her just enough to sink in a little farther and the new angle had him filling her to the hilt. So damn good. He knew it would be this good. On an inhale, she arched back and moaned, brushing her gorgeous breasts and tight nipples against his chest. That was it. He was done. She decimated his control.

  “Open your eyes, Haley.” His voice sounded rough. He was barely hanging on. “Open your eyes and come with me.”

  Her eyelids fluttered open, and she locked onto his gaze, hers dark and full of need. He wasn’t alone. She was just as lost in this craziness. And as he drew back then pushed all the way inside, he watched her burst with his name on her sweet lips.

  It was his undoing.

  “Christ, Haley.” He thrust hard within her, lost in the feel of her gripping him tight, lost in her, and that was where he found his own long, fierce release.

  Coming down from the high, he kissed her through the aftermath, in frantic, deep passes. Then he changed the tempo, and softly brushed his mouth to hers, before moving up to kiss her forehead.

  They stayed that way for several moments while working to catch their breath. He couldn’t have moved if he needed to. The incredible woman stole his bones and, he suspected, much more.

  …

  “That was much better than I remember,” Haley admitted, body still trembling. She knew with their chemistry it would be incredible, but this was far surpassing her expectations. And gauging the reactions she saw and felt in him, Cord enjoyed it, too.

  “Yeah?” He lifted up to gaze down at her. “Much better than your plastic friend?”

  A smile tugged at her lips. “Yeah.” She lifted a hand to scrape her knuckles over his jaw. “Hell yeah.”

  “I like ‘hell yeah.’” Then he did something she didn’t see often enough—he smiled, a genuine smile that reach his eyes and softened the hard lines of his face. It was like the sun breaking over the horizon. Breathtaking.

  She traced his lower lip. “I like it, too.”

  He bent down to kiss her quick then rolled off the bed and vanished into the bathroom.

  When he came back out, and she watched his fine ass stride to his discarded clothes instead of her, she lifted up on her elbow and raised a brow. “Where’s the fire?”

  Jeans in hand, he straightened and glanced over at her, and her sensitized body reacted as if he caressed her with his hands. “Thought this was a one-time thing.”


  With his short hair tussled, thanks to her fingers, heat still lingering in his gaze, and the fact he was still semi-hard, he looked dangerous and delicious, and her “one-time thing” bit the dust.

  “It was more of one night type thing, and there’s plenty of night left.” She patted the mattress, hope and anticipation fluttering in her chest.

  His gaze slid slowly over her again. A second later his jeans hit the floor, but not before he withdrew another condom, which he slapped on the nightstand then turned to stare down at her. “You sure?” he asked, voice deliciously gruff.

  “Yes.” She reached out to take him gently in her hands and stroke. “Very. Unless you don’t have the stamina,” she teased, knowing it was far from true.

  “I’ve got it as long as you need it.” He thrust into her hand, growing deliciously harder with each stroke.

  Her heart rocked against her ribs and sent a surge of heat through her body. “Even if I need it all night?”

  With a slight smile reaching his eyes again, he climb in on top of her, and his body relaxed deliciously into hers. She wasn’t sure she’d ever felt anything so erotic.

  Sprawled over her, he entwined their fingers and lifted their joined hands to either side of her face. “I’m at my best at night.”

  And he proved it.

  Chapter Eight

  Cord woke up to an empty bed. Normally, that would be great, but for some reason it messed with his head. Haley had rocked his world several times last night…until he’d run out of condoms. Then this morning, she’d walked out before dawn.

  Usually his role. It was weird to have it reversed on him.

  And by Haley, of all women…

  He shook his head and lay there staring at the ceiling, replaying the incredible night. Soft, and willing, and hungry. She had satisfied him like no other. Being inside her, watching her fly apart was so damn addicting. Her reactions to his touch, the fact she knew exactly how and where to stroke, and the way her rhythm had matched his own blew his fucking mind. He’d always known they’d be good in bed. How could they not with that ever-present attraction simmering between them? Christ, she could own him. So damn easily.

  If he let her.

  For the better part of Cord’s life, he forced himself to keep every emotion in check. He had a mother, grandmother, and kid sister to take care of and protect. Then soldiers and civilians.

  It was ingrained in him. He kept everything in check. Played it close to the vest. So watching her take pleasure in him and in pleasing him, he found it mesmerizing. She was mesmerizing. Intoxicating, and he hadn’t been able to get enough of her, not her sighs, her taste, the feel of her soft curves writhing beneath him, or her tiny little pants when he was buried deep inside her sweet heat… Fuck. He was hard again. Or was that still? With Haley, it was beginning to blur.

  Damn, he didn’t need that added complication.

  After grabbing a quick shower, he made his way to the kitchen, not sure what to expect. Now that he was wide awake and free of his Haley-induced sexual stupor, he saw things clearer. It hadn’t been smart to bring sex into the mix. What the hell had he done?

  You had sex with Drew’s widow, his mind supplied, and shards of guilt hollowed his gut.

  Fuck.

  What if Haley was feeling guilty, too?

  It was all on him. His fault. He should’ve been stronger. Stood his ground. Kept his damn hands off her. Instead of helping out, he was only adding to the poor woman’s troubles. Christ. He still had two weeks left at the ranch, and in one night, he might’ve screwed the whole thing up.

  A second later, he walked into the kitchen, ready to face the music, only to find it empty except for a dirty mug and dish in the sink. He glanced out the window, not surprised to find Haley’s silhouette in one of the far corrals. Up at dawn as usual. Why should today be any different? Just because he could still barely find his bones didn’t mean she had that problem.

  That was good. Right?

  It sure as shit didn’t feel good.

  Cord caught himself scowling and blew out a breath. Putting aside the Drew issue, he evaluated his uncharacteristic attitude. The woman wanted one night of sex and, hell, that’s all he’d wanted, too. But now that she was going on with business as usual, he was, what… Pouting? Christ, he should be grateful. It was every guy’s dream to have hot, wild sex without the aftermath of clingy.

  So why the hell did he feel awful?

  Because he was a fucking idiot, that’s why.

  As if to confirm that, his phone started to ring with Brick on the line.

  “How goes things in Haley land?”

  Cord’s whole body tightened with the images those words provoked. He knew exactly how Haley land looked…and felt.

  In-fucking-credible.

  He cleared his throat. “Fine. What’s got you calling so early?”

  “Stone’s doing a follow-up with McGregor today and he wanted to know where you put the last of the invoices.”

  He shook his head to clear it. “In the invoice box on the desk.” Exactly where they belonged.

  Brick’s chuckle echoed through the phone. “Jovy has the office so clean and organized he can’t find a damn thing.”

  “Apparently.” Cord flicked the phone on speaker and set it on the counter so he could fish out a slice of bread and drop it in the toaster.

  He would’ve been happy to drop some in for Haley, too, except, oh…that’s right, she already ate and started work without him.

  Christ, he needed to stop acting so butt-hurt. They had their agreed upon one night. Hell, he didn’t want any more than that, either. So why wasn’t he smiling and walking lighter, like a guy who’d had fantastic sex with a hot chick?

  Because she’d turned the tables on him. Did what he’d done to women his whole life. She’d given and taken what she’d wanted from him and left before dawn to avoid the awkward morning after…and he was belly-aching about it? “I need my head examined.”

  “I could’ve told you that.” Brick’s second chuckle filled the air. “But just out of curiosity, what made you come to that conclusion?”

  “Forget it.”

  “Oh…ho…no, buddy. You and Haley have this crazy-ass chemistry thing going on. We already established Drew had given his blessing, and now you’re there alone with her for another two weeks, and you expect me to forget it? Forget that. What’s going on?”

  Cord hung up and shoved his phone back in his pocket.

  Another two weeks with Haley. An unrecognizable emotion rippled through his gut as he finished his toast and gulped down a cup of coffee. No room in his life for unrecognizable emotions, so he labeled it akin to lust and straightened his shoulders. He’d manage.

  After cleaning up his mess, he grabbed his hat off the chair, where he’d set it the night before, and headed outside to start his day. He had the second half of the roof to patch up before the sun got too high in the sky and broiled him for lunch.

  But on his way to the barn, he noticed Haley stopped pounding on a post and lifted a hand to wave at him. Apparently he still existed to her. Good to know. He just wished he knew whether to nod and keep going, or was he supposed to change direction and head to her for some kind of after sex talk.

  Shit.

  This was all his damn fault.

  His insides clenched. Why the hell did he have to go complicate things with sex?

  Considering how long she’d ruled his fantasies, and how much hotter reality turned out to be, those complications blurred. And as he watched her walk toward him in pair of cutoffs and hard-on inducing work boots, a fitted T-shirt with the words NEED CHOCOLATE printed across her chest—the material the same warm brown as her eyes—she rendered him brainless.

  “Morning, beautiful,” he murmured before his mouth could reconnect to his brain.

  Oh, that’s right, he didn’t have one at the moment. She sucked it from his soul, with those mile-long legs of hers, and the lazy, warm smile of a woman who’d been satisfie
d many times the night before.

  By him. He’d put that look on her pretty face, and if that didn’t make him feel ten feet tall, nothing would.

  She stopped in front of him and her smile increased. “It is a good morning, thanks to you.”

  The uptight, serious version of Haley was nowhere in sight. He liked both, but maybe this one a little more. The morning breeze lifted the hair off her temple, and his fingers itched to catch the strand he knew to feel silky and soft.

  Jesus, what the hell was he doing getting urges like that?

  “About last night,” he started, and then cleared his throat. Morning afters were never trouble for him. What the hell? He suddenly didn’t know what to say. But this was Haley. He couldn’t just brush her off. Besides, she was smiling an actual smile—at him. It was sweet and glowing…and sweet.

  Damn.

  It didn’t help that she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. Always had been. Still. He wasn’t looking for anything, and neither was she. And then there was the fucking whopper—she was Drew’s wife. At least, she had been. So, he needed to find his damn tongue, and fast. “Do we need to talk about last night?”

  “I don’t know. Do we?”

  He narrowed his gaze, at a complete loss for words.

  “It’s okay, Cord,” she said in a soft tone. “We can talk about it if you need to.”

  “Me?” He reeled back, baffled. “I thought that’s why you came over.”

  She chuckled softly and set her palms on his chest. “Nope. I wanted this.”

  Before his vacant head registered her words, she lifted up on tiptoe and took what she wanted in a long, thorough, hungry kiss that rendered them both breathless. It wasn’t just a brain missing from his head. Lack of blood in his noggin made him dizzy. Luckily, there was enough sense left for a flicker of concern to register.

  Jesus, he hoped she remembered he wasn’t staying. That he was just temporary, because that wasn’t what he was getting from her kiss. “Haley—” he began when they drew apart, but she cut him off.

  “Relax, Cord.” She patted his arm like a child who needed comforting.